The Beat Goes On
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: Based on some of the prompts for the 30 Day OTP Challenge. Snapshots of Rachel and Santana's life together. Pezberry
1. Holding Hands

**The Beat Goes On**

Santana knocked on Kurt and Rachel's door, not knowing what to expect. It had been three days since the pair had kicked her out, and the only contact she'd had with either of them was a text message from Rachel last night. It had simply said: _I'm sorry. Please come over tomorrow evening? _She'd replied with an emotionless _Sure, _because she knew it would annoy the girl. Rachel loved her emoticons. She found herself staring into relieved face of Kurt Humell a few seconds later.

"Oh, thank Alexander McQueen! You're back. Come on in."

"What's—"

"She's been like a velociraptor on crack for the entire day," Kurt said in an undertone. "I'll leave my apology for later, because frankly? You're only emotionally equipped to deal with hers tonight." With that, he grabbed his bag and stalked out of the apartment.

"Okay…."

"Santana?"

She turned to see Rachel standing in the doorway of the kitchen, looking nervous as hell. "Hey there, Hobbit. What changed your mind?"

"I…I was hoping we could talk over dinner?"

"Sure," Santana said gently. Sure, she was still mad, but she really couldn't handle Rachel standing there looking slightly terrified. She'd seen that face enough in high school…. "Need me to set the table?"

"That would be great, thanks."

They got ready to eat in silence, Rachel bringing out the food and Santana putting plates out and getting drinks.

"Prime rib?" Santana asked, astonished. "That's one hell of an apology."

"Kurt cooked it," Rachel said. "However, I did make the spaghetti and the roasted vegetables."

They ate in silence. Santana had to admit, dinner was amazing. She'd look up every once in a while to catch Rachel staring at her. Finally, she took the younger woman's hand and said, "Rachel, talk to me."

"Why are you being so nice about this?" Rachel asked. "I at least expected an 'I told you so' when you got here."

"Oh, we'll get to that," Santana said, smiling. She stood, not letting go of Rachel's hand, and led them over to the couch. "But first, I want to know why the turn around."

"It was something you said, before you left," Rachel explained. "You said you loved us…that we were a family. I couldn't get it out of my head the first day you were gone, and I realized it was because it reminded me of sophomore year—when you said glee was the best part of your day. I believed you then, because for once you were trusting us to accept you. I should have trusted you now. You were doing that again, and…well, you don't do that often. I see why now."

Santana sat staring at her for a long moment, then nodded for her to continue.

"I talked to Brody yesterday. I won't go into the details, but he seemed to think that lying was the best course of action. When he came clean, I kicked him out." She looked directly at Santana then. "I'm so sorry. I was wrong. About him, about everything…. And he wasn't here first. You were, in a way. He may have moved in here before you, but I've known you longer. I should have remembered that, and known that you were trying to help."

Santana squeezed her hand. "Apology accepted…you lunatic."

Rachel let out a relieved chuckle. "Do you…want to watch a movie or something?"

"Sure."

They put Avengers in and sat back on the couch. Rachel took Santana's hand again and leaned her head on her shoulder. "By the way?"

"Yeah?"

"I asked one of the instructors for the security footage of the dance studio. You rock Paula Abdul."

Santana laughed as the movie came on.


	2. Cuddling

**Girls' Night In**

Rachel flopped onto the couch, willing herself not to fall asleep. Her tap instructor was a drill sergeant on the best of days, but on exam days he was like a rhinoceros with a head cold.

"Hey lady," Santana said, sitting next to her. "Pasta's cooking, and I have lots of snacks that don't need to be refrigerated. This storm's supposed to knock out the power."

Rachel nodded. "What did you get for dessert?"

"That crazy awesome vegan apple pie you bought last week."

"Oh good, I might actually get to taste some this time," Rachel said, laughing.

"My bad," Santana said.

"What are you putting on the spaghetti? It had better not be—"

"It's not bacon, Tiny," Santana assured her. She was never going to hear the end of that one…. "I grabbed some sort of olive oil with sundried tomatoes and garlic in it. Tried it at the store; it was decent."

"Sounds amazing."

They were quiet for a moment, listening to the rain pour outside.

"Santana?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm going to ask you something, and if you don't want to, I politely request that you do not answer with threats of Lima Heights."

Santana snickered. "Fine. Ask away."

"Would you…cuddle with me?"

Santana looked surprised for a second, but then leaned back and nodded. "Snuggle up, Berry. I know you had a hard day."

Smiling, Rachel crawled across the short distance and got comfy next to Santana. "Thanks. It's days like these that make me wonder if it's even worth it."

"It is," Santana said, hugging her closer. "Just picture yourself ten years from now…living your Broadway fairy tale, cruising the Mediterranean in your yacht during the off-season…bugging the ever loving hell out of me and Quinn whenever you're gearing up for a show."

Rachel poked her in the ribs, but she was laughing. "20 Questions while the pasta finishes cooking?"

"Sure. Why'd you break up with Finn? Like for good?"

"When he beat the shit out of Brody, his exact words were 'Stay away from my future wife.' Besides the inherent stripping of my autonomy—"

"Half my fault. Sorry about that."

"Forgiven. But besides that…I just…I don't know where I'm headed. But I deserve to have a chance to experience things and figure myself out. I want to be Rachel—not The Future Mrs. Hudson."

Santana nodded, trying not to grin and thank every god in existence.

"Why do you go through everybody's stuff?" Rachel asked.

Santana tensed for a split second, and then relaxed. "You know how our freshman and sophomore year, I would threaten to go Lima Heights on everyone?"

"How on earth could I forget?"

"And then junior and senior year it switched to Lima Heights Adjacent?"

Rachel thought back for a moment. "Yeah…now that I think about it. I guess at the time I was too busy dodging your fists to notice," she said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, they're two vastly different places. Adjacent is where all the rich people live. Plain ol' Lima Heights is as close as Lima gets to having a ghetto. I lived there those two years with my cousin. My aunt's…er…kind of shitty. She does drugs like whoa, and isn't all that pleasant to be around, we'll just say. Anyway, I got a call from Lima Elementary one day saying Nico was suspended and I had to come pick him up. She'd told him to pick up cigarettes for her, and he did it before school—"

"How the hell did an elementary schooler buy cigarettes?"

Santana smiled. "Not everyone's as noble as you, Rach. Anyway, somehow his teacher found out and they chucked him out for a day. It could have been a lot worse though…. I got in the habit of going through his things to make sure nothing followed him to school. And then I started going through his room to make sure she hadn't hidden anything in there that would get him killed. Drug dealers came by once or twice, and I didn't want her passing off her many shortcomings onto the eight year old."

Rachel listened open mouthed.

"So it became a sort of habit. I know doing it to roommates is completely crazy, but it's sort of a compulsion at this point…" she finished quietly.

Rachel squeezed her tightly. "You…are amazing. Terrifying at times, but amazing."

The timer went off in the kitchen, and Santana relaxed. Saved by the fucking bell—she'd had enough of spilling her guts.

"Come on. Let's eat. Then I'm whooping your ass at Scrabble."


	3. Gaming

**The Beat Goes On**

The weeks rolled by peacefully. Rachel and Kurt were both doing exceedingly well at NYADA. Santana found a job and got accepted to Columbia for the next term (much to her mother's elation). The girls found themselves hanging out more and more, and by the last weekend in March, Friday had been designated the official Girls' Night In.

Rachel set snacks out on the table and sat down next to Santana. "Okay, so what's the plan for tonight?" she asked, a bit apprehensively because Santana was currently attacking a ginormous UPS box with an X-Acto knife.

"Remember how we were talking the other day? And you said you wanted a more mainstream hobby that you could discuss with the population at large, rather than just with your theater friends?"

"Yes."

"I had Papi send this to me. Get ready, Rachel Berry, because tonight…." She let the sides of the box fall away to reveal six game consoles stacked on top of each other. "Tonight we teach you to game. We will be paying homage to the gods of Sega and Playstation. First on the list is Sega Genesis. You look through the games while I hook it up."

Rachel began peeking through the cartridges, pulling some out and glancing at them. "Santana? How do I know if these are one player or two player?"

"No worries on that. Just pick what looks fun for the first few, because I'm going to be running commentary."

Rachel, unsurprisingly to Santana, picked Mickey Mouse's Castle of Illusion for the first game. Santana set it up and showed Rachel the controls, and they were off.

"It's like Mario, but with Mickey!" Rachel said, stomping another bat.

"Yep! Watch out for that guy—he spits whipped cream."

* * *

"This is so satisfying!"

It was nearly midnight. By now, they'd moved through three different games on the Genesis, skipped over the Saturn, played Crash Bandicoot on the Playstation, experience the joy of Super Magnetic Neo on the Dreamcast (and the subsequent rage when the shit console went out), and were now playing Kingdom Hearts on the PS2.

Santana had given helpful hints at first, but now she was rapidly fading. A couple of times she'd dozed off for a second and woken up to find Rachel moving on to another level.

"Santana?"

"Hmmm?"

"I asked, how do you save this? We can finish tomorrow."

After saving the game they headed to Rachel's room. After Girls' Night cuddling had also become a thing. Santana went back to her "Like a lizard" excuse, while Rachel had waxed philosophic on humanity and the need for closeness.

Kurt had called it. "You two just like to cuddle with each other. Own it."

They snuggled under the covers in silence. Finally, Santana tapped Rachel on the waist.

"You awake?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Next week…maybe we could go do something? Dinner and a movie or something…."

Rachel smiled into the older girl's shoulder. "Sure. I'd like that."


	4. On a Date

**The Beat Goes On**

Santana was experiencing a rather gnarly case of Murphy's Law that day. She'd spent the week trying to think of something to do with Rachel that didn't involve a Broadway show. That was too obvious, and she wanted it to be special. On Thursday, she'd come up with a great plan. There was a new vegan restaurant that Rachel had been dying to try called The Crispy Fairy. Apparently there was a smoothie to go bar and some pretty impressive relish trays that came with your food. There was also a jazz festival happening in the park near their apartment, so she'd figured dinner and some music would make a good date.

And it would have, had The Crispy Fairy been booked and waitlisted for the next three weeks, and had it not started raining like it was Armageddon, thus cancelling the music. The scales of fate were not tipped in her favor today.

She sighed as she climbed the stairs to the apartment. Maybe they could postpone it until next week…. When she opened the door, she stopped. There were candles and rose petals everywhere, a heavenly smell was coming from the kitchen, and Rachel was setting out plates in her gold star footie pajamas.

"Hi Santana!" she chirped.

"Wow…" was all Santana could say.

"I may or may not have heard you having a frustrated argument with the host at The Crispy Fairy, which may or may not have led me to believe that dinner might be cancelled for tonight. So I figured we could have our date here. Unless you have something else—"

"No, this is great. It looks beautiful. And your footie pajamas really set things off," she added, smirking.

"You've seen me in my underwear, and in a towel. I'll be sexy the next time we go out, but we're going comfy tonight."

"Sounds good to me. And you'd be sexy in a brown paper bag, so no worries there," Santana said, winking. "Be right back." She bolted down the hall to her room and started riffling through her drawers. She knew they were in here somewhere…ah ha! She stripped off her work clothes and pulled on her pocket watch Steampunk footie pajamas before wandering back into the living room.

Rachel saw her and grinned. "Very nice."

"Just wanted to keep with the spirit of things. Can I help at all?"

"There's a bowl of grilled veggies on the counter. If you want to toss those with the dressing and bring that in, that would be great."

Santana found the bottle of Greek dressing in the fridge and tossed the veggies with it. She smirked, thinking of her mom's reaction if she ever saw her helping with dinner.

"What's so funny?" Rachel asked, coming back in.

"Just thinking…I used to hate helping with dinner. My mom would go into conniptions if she saw me right now. Maybe we should take video and send it to her, just to see her reaction."

Rachel laughed and took the pasta into the living room.

They ate on cushions on the floor, watching but not really watching 500 Days of Summer. It was relaxing, just talking and listening to the rain.

Rachel nudged Santana when the movie went off. "Okay, your turn to pick. And please don't pick anything with lots of blood and guts. I enjoyed that meal, and I'd like to keep it."

Santana laughed and glanced out the window. The rain had let up a bit, but it was still coming down pretty good. "I have another idea."

"What's that? And will it get us arrested?"

"Don't think so. Do you have a bathing suit?"

* * *

Kurt hummed to himself as he poured a mug of tea. He had no idea where the girls were, but if they were out in that mess, they'd need some tea too. He put the ceramic tea pot back on its hot plate and added a bit more peppermint to the tea ball.

"Well, so long as I have the house to myself…time for Adventure Time!"

He turned on Cartoon Network and snuggled down in the blankets on the couch. Just as he was beginning to, once again, speculate about Marcelene and Princess Bubblegum, the door opened. "What in the actual hell?"

Santana and Rachel stood there, covered in mud from head to toe, and grinning like they'd just won the lottery.

"Best. First date. Ever," Rachel said.


	5. Kiss

**The Beat Goes On**

Rachel took Santana's hand as they walked through the market. It was an interesting place—nearly always busy. You could find anything there, from food to trumpets to lapel pins. But they were there looking for a birthday present for Quinn.

"She's turned into a bit of a hipster," Santana said with a grin. "Yale's been good to her."

"Look over there! Steampunk Emporium has a booth set up."

"Jackpot. She loves that stuff."

They had fun picking out some Steampunk comics (settling on Father Thames, The Clockwork Island, and The Hunter's Epidemic).

"We should get her one more thing," Santana mused. "Maybe something to decorate her apartment with?"

"I'd suggest the elephant tusk phone, but it implies not only cruelty to animals but poaching as well. What about that ring? Or the fold up spyglass—she works in the archives, so it would be appropriate."

"Excuse me ladies," a voice said behind them. "Would you mind showing us inside of your bags?"

Rachel and Santana turned around in unison.

"Wouldn't mind at all," Santana said. "If you tell us why."

"Routine check."

Rachel smiled. She knew the look on her girlfriend's face. From Santana to Snix the Lawyer in three seconds.

"Routine check? I don't think so," Santana said, and began to ramble off stuff like "probable cause" and "false accusations".

Rachel's knowledge of the law was pretty much limited to what she'd picked up watching Law and Order: SVU reruns, so she missed most of it.

The cops didn't though. They stood open mouthed as Santana released two years worth of law firm internship knowledge on their heads.

"Listen," she said in her "I don't mean to be a bitch, but actually I do" voice. "I get it. You're beat cops and teenagers take advantage of places like these. So you see young people and automatically think something's up. And maybe a tiny part of you likes watching them squirm. I'm sure that you're outstanding cops in every other way though, so I'm not going to start throwing around words like 'profiling,' 'lawsuit' and 'harassment', officers… Gaines and Putnam. We're just out looking for a birthday present for our bestie, but we're nothing if not cooperative. Now, again, why do you need to look through our bags?"

The officers shared a nervous glance. This wasn't some skateboarding, disrespectful punk that they could hem up while he screamed about his rights. This kid knew what she was talking about, and knew how to use it. She also knew she had a crowd around her. Officer Gaines shook his head.

"Our mistake, ma'am. Enjoy your day."

"And you, officer."

Once they'd left, Santana turned back to Rachel. "So what should we—mmph!"

Rachel didn't let go until she heard applause. "That. Was so hot."

"Just imagine me doing it in a power suit and heals," Santana said, grinning.

Rachel did imagine it. In fact, she couldn't stop imagining it.

Santana laughed. "Let's pay for Quinn's shit and go home."


	6. Wearing Each Other's Clothes

**The Beat Goes On**

Santana dropped all seven bags on the kitchen and tossed a pot onto the stove. "Kurt?" she called as quietly as he could. She rolled her eyes. Of course he'd picked today to put in overtime at his internship. She dumped a load of vegetable broth into the pot and turned the stove on.

Quietly, she tiptoed through the apartment, switching off the soccer match between the US and Italy. She peeked around the curtain that was Rachel's door and saw the girl rolled up in about 80 blankets, sleeping.

There were comics and graphic novels scattered around the bed, and a wastebasket full of tissues next to the nightstand.

"Rae," she whispered, running a hand through the girl's hair. "Wake up baby."

Brown eyes fluttered open. "San?" Rachel croaked.

"How are you feeling? Have you been able to get up at all?"

She shook her head slightly. "Everything hurts, and I can barely crawl to the bathroom."

"My poor Rae Bear…. I'm making you some soup right now. How's your fever?"

"102.5."

"I'll get you some more Tylenol."

Santana went back to the kitchen to add the egg noodles to the soup. She grabbed a bottle of cold medicine, and a bottle of whiskey, and went back to Rachel's room. She found her sitting up in bed.

"Right. One shot of Tylenol, one shot of whiskey."

"Where did you get whiskey?"

"The liquor store. Thank god for fake I.D.s"

"Santana Lopez!" Rachel croaked with as much force as she could muster.

"Shhh! Take your medicine. Is that my Columbia hoodie you're wearing?"

"I promise I'll wash it before I give it back to you. I was lonely and it smells like you."

"It's cool," she said, kissing Rachel on her forehead. "Trade you for your purple NYADA pullover."

Rachel smiled and scooted back down under her mountain of blankets. She had another brief cough attack. "Okay. Sleepy now."

"I'll wake you up when your soup is ready."


	7. Cosplay

**The Beat Goes On**

Rachel shuffled into the living room with her sandwich. It was one of the rare occasions that she actually had time to come home for lunch. "Santana!" she called. "Show's starting!"

"I'm coming." Santana shuffled in a minute later and plopped onto the couch. She had Rachel's NYADA pullover, and she was twisting the sleeves nervously.

"Is everything okay?"

"Fine, yeah. I just…I'm invoking the circle of trust."

Rachel's head snapped to the side, and she muted the TV. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just have something to tell you and a favor to ask. And I don't want it to leave this room."

"You know you can tell me anything," Rachel said, taking Santana's hand. "I haven't seen you this nervous since you had to tell Brittany that NSYNC was breaking up."

The older woman nodded, and took something out of her pocket. She unfolded it to reveal a flyer.

Rachel took it from her and glanced over it once. Then she smiled. "You don't have to be embarrassed about this, you know."

"Who said I was embarrassed?"

"Invoking the circle of trust to show me a New York Comic Con flyer?"

"…okay, so I'm a little embarrassed. But I really want to go, and, well…."

"What?"

"I want to cosplay."

"You want to who now?"

"Cosplay. It's where you… dress up and stuff. I'm not explaining it well."

"Okay. I'm sure I can find an example on YouTube…?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. But let's research together, because I don't want you to be traumatized by anything you find."

"Is that likely?"

"Very…."

* * *

Santana had expected Rachel to find the entire thing frivolous, but the younger woman threw herself into it completely. To include finding a platinum blonde wig somewhere, and bugging Clyde from the NYADA costume department to find a suitable Khaleesi costume.

"If she's Daenerys, shouldn't you be Drogo?" Kurt asked, adjusting his crown.

"Where's your Loras, Renly?" Santana shot back, fixing her sword belt around her waist.

"You make a pretty convincing Arya Stark," Rachel conceded. "So when do they let us in? This is all terribly exciting! I wonder if the cast will like our costumes."

"They'll let us in… in about five minutes," Kurt said, checking his pocket watch. "Q and A is 45 minutes long, and then we can descend on the booths again like a plague of fabulous locusts."

"Thank you for coming with me," Santana whispered to Rachel, leaning over to give her a kiss.

"OUT OF CHARACTER!"

They jumped apart as a skinny 20-something boy with god awful acne pointed an accusing finger at them.

"Arya Stark and Daenerys Targaryen are not together. Except in a few very good fan fiction stories I'm reading—"

"Back off, fan boy!" Rachel snapped.

He scurried away, blushing.

"Thanks, Daenerys," Santana said with a grin as the line began to move forward.


	8. Shopping

**The Beat Goes On**

Rachel hated shopping. Hated it with the all consuming passion of a thousand blazing suns. It had only taken Santana three weeks to figure out that the chore chart was a little bit biased to that fact.

"Come on, Rachel," she'd said. "Doing stuff you don't like is character building."

"But I hate grocery shopping!" Rachel had whined.

"Of course you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing bad. It just makes sense," Santana explained. "You might be methodical and organized, but you've got flair. Mountains of flair. Maybe you do color code your class notes, but you do it with sparkly pens and odd colored highlighters. Sure, you have a Powerpoint presentation every time you get an idea, but the animations would put Pixar to shame. And yeah, maybe you organize your socks by color and pattern, but I don't know anyone else who would have a section dedicated to penguins and ninjas."

"To be fair, the ninjas were your doing," Rachel said, smiling.

"Right, but what I'm saying is, you don't do normal, soul crushing methodical. You hate shopping because it's boring. You have to organize without flair."

She had agreed wholeheartedly after being sent to the store with the grocery list for the first time after that conversation. She'd come back wanting nothing more than a glass of wine and a hot bath.

So this time, Santana had promised to make it interesting for her. What that meant, she didn't know, but she'd been ushered out the door without a list and told to text her girlfriend when she got there.

_Right, San, I'm here. Let's make this quick, shall we? I hate this place._

_**Patience, my precious.**_

_I actually just read that in Gollum's voice._

_**Lol, nerd. Anyway, here's your first clue.**_

_Clue? Santana, what the hell?_

_**Most people think I'm a vegetable, if they'd have to call me anything. My name is also a word for a big crime or prank.**_

Rachel stared at her phone for a long time. Santana was sending her on a scavenger hunt. Like, for real. In real life.

_What do I get if I win?_

_**I'll make dinner with some of the things you're collecting. And I'll let you pick the movie.**_

Rachel thought about the hint for a moment. "A caper!" she said finally. She text the answer to Santana, but her girlfriend wouldn't tell her if she was right or not. So she found the aisle with all of the canned vegetables and grabbed a jar of them anyway.

_Done._

_**If you ask for me in London, you'll get something else. **_

_WTF, Santana?_

_**If you ask for me in London, you'll get the same food, but differently.**_

Rachel thought about it. She tried to think of all of the British slang she knew, but she was coming up empty at the moment. She visualized their cabinets at home. What were they out of that was something different in England….

"Chips."

_Done._

_**We say this when we take pictures, for some reason.**_

Cheese.

_**Quinn's nickname for Beth.**_

Pumpkin.

_**What I called you when you wouldn't go see Saw 14 with me.**_

_I'm going to assume you mean "chicken" and not "pussy." _

_**My favorite fruit, Mike's favorite color.**_

Oranges.

_**What you do when someone insults Barbara S.**_

Rachel rolled her eyes. The only reason she knew this was because Santana had introduced her to the White Whine blog two days ago.

_**Bill Cosby's snack.**_

And she knew this because of the hours they'd spent watching daytime TV when all three of them came down with the flu. Pudding.

_**Nickname for the psychotic Republican off-shoot party of the 2012 election. Also a name for a sex act.**_

Tea bags.

_**Ogres are like….**_

Onions.

Rachel ran back and forth across the store, probably looking like a madwoman, collecting all of the things they needed. Finally, Santana sent the last clue.

_**I'm here to recruit you!**_

Rachel laughed and went over to the refrigerators to grab a carton of milk.

* * *

"Did I win?"

Santana peered into the canvas shopping bags and smiled. "Yep! Tonight, we feast!"

Rachel just shook her head and started helping put the groceries away.


	9. Hanging Out with Friends

**The Beat Goes On**

"What are you doing?"

"Scrapbooking."

"Yeah? Which pictures?"

"I'm way behind. They're from the summer after we started dating."

"Oh lord," Santana muttered, sitting next to Rachel. She snorted. "I remember that one. Most awkward pool party for two hundred, Alex."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "We had to get it over with at some point."

* * *

"_I would literally rather be doing anything else," Santana groaned._

"_San, they're our friends," Rachel said. "It's going to be fun."_

"_It's going to be a train wreck," Santana countered, drumming on the steering wheel. "The only person who's going to believe us are Quinn and Kurt—and that's because they saw it happen."_

"_Let's assume the best of our friends, shall we?"_

_Santana grumbled something inaudible as she pulled into the community pool's parking lot._

_The gleeks were already assembled when Santana and Rachel made it over. After the normal round of greetings and hugs, most of them hopped in the pool. _

"_I'm going to tan," Santana told Rachel._

"_If I ask 'What for?' does that make me racist?" Rachel wondered aloud. _

_Mercedes laughed. "If so, I'll do it for you," she said, winking. "What for?"_

"_Okay, okay. I'm going to enjoy the feeling of the sun on my already tan skin," Santana said, rolling her eyes. She settled down on one of the pool chairs and watched the chicken fight between Mike and Rachel, and Sam and Brittany._

"_Hey, Santana."_

"_Sup, Finnocence?"_

"_How do you want your burger?"_

"_You got any more of those giant mushrooms Rachel eats?"_

"_Yeah, a few."_

"_Throw one of them on for me too."_

"_How come? Are you on some sort of weird diet?"_

"_I went vegan with Rachel."_

"_Oh, okay. Er…makes grocery shopping easier I guess."_

"_Yeah. How's the tire shop business going?"_

"_Epic. Burt's awesome. Got to go man the grill, though. Talk to you in a few."_

_When she looked back at the pool, she saw Rachel giving her a worried look. She smiled and blew a kiss at her. The drama could wait until later._

* * *

"To be fair, he took it pretty well."

"If giving everyone the silent treatment for an hour can be considered taking it well."

"He just needed some time to process."

"I know. I was surprised he didn't actually start the drama."

"He stopped it for us, though."

* * *

"_So…how did you two happen?" Mercedes asked as they sat around the picnic table. _

"_We…just kind of happened. It was just a thing."_

"_An awesome thing," Santana added. _

"_What about Finn?" Tina asked._

_Silence fell over the table. _

"_What about me?" Finn asked with a shrug. "Rachel and I didn't work out. It happens. If Santana makes her happy, everything's cool."_

"_When Finn's mature, it messes with my worldview," Kurt said._

_Finn flicked a carrot at him._

"_Vegetable abuse!" Rachel cried, getting a laugh out of everyone and effectively changing the subject._

* * *

"I miss everyone," Rachel said forlornly.

Santana looked out at the falling snow. Junior year had been rough for both of them, but she knew homesickness was starting to get to her girlfriend. "Grab your laptop, I have an idea."

An hour later, both of them had their laptops up, Legend of the Seeker (season two) was on, and all of the Gleeks were running Skype-commentary.

"Can we commentary Wrestle Mania next?"

"Is the blonde one in love with the brunette?"

"No one will ever convince me otherwise."

"She looks hella fly as a princess."

"And her rhyming skills are legit."

"Can we turn Cara into a rap star? Send Jay Z a mix tape!"

"Hey guys?" Rachel said.

"Yeah?"

"Sup?"

"Huh?"

"Can we make this a weekly thing?"

And thus, a new glee tradition was born.


	10. Wearing Kigurumis

**The Beat Goes On**

"You sure you don't need anything?" Rachel asked, shouldering her backpack.

"Positive. It's just a cold, Rae Bear. I'll be fine," Santana assured her.

Rachel still gave an impressive pout before kissing her forehead. "Thermometer's on the counter, juice is in the fridge. Call me if you need anything."

"I will."

* * *

The interpretive dance version of Old Man and the Sea was a lot harder to pull off than it sounded. Rachel was falling over tired by the time she walked out into the afternoon rain. She checked her watch—two o'clock. Santana hadn't sent her a text in a while, but she was probably sleeping. Deciding she was way too tired to deal with public transportation, she hailed a cab and enjoyed the luxuries of warmth and personal space.

By the time she got to the apartment, the rain had let up a bit. She let herself in and stopped in the doorway. Her brain didn't know how to process what she was seeing.

Santana was sitting on the couch, and hadn't noticed her yet. She was wearing what looked like animal footie pajamas, had a bowl of Ramen in front of her, and was watching…. Rachel had no idea what she was watching.

"Feeling better?" Rachel asked, closing the door.

Santana jumped, sloshing a bit of broth on the floor. "Er…yeah?"

"Do I even want to know?"

"Anime and Ramen is kind of a thing for me. My mom used to stay home a watch anime with me when I was sick."

Rachel smiled. "Catch me up?"

"The blonde motherfucker is the Beast King, the sexy asshole's name is Third, and he's helping Thor—the Beast King—and it's all dystopian. And it'll probably be easier if we just start the series over."

"Oh, you don't have to. I'm sure I can follow it."

"It's cool. It's my favorite, so I watch it over and over anyway. Plus, it's only 13 episodes, so no worries."

"Santana?"

"Yeah?"

"The hell are you wearing?"

"It's a Kigurumi. Don't judge me."

"No judgement," Rachel said, snuggling her. "I think you look adorable."


	11. Wearing Animal Ears

**The Beat Goes On**

"No."

"Sorry, what?" Santana said, looking up from her magazine.

"I said no. I don't want to go."

"But Rachel," Santana whined, scooching over to cuddle her girlfriend. "It's our senior year. This is the last Beta Bash Halloween we'll ever get to go to!"

Rachel put down her text book and wrapped her arms around Santana. "I know. But…."

"What?" Santana asked, kissing her forehead.

"It's not my scene," Rachel said with a sigh. "I'm sorry—I know I'm sort of a wet blanket, but it's never been my thing. It's just…I don't get the need to put on the tightest outfit you own and some cat ears, and say that's a costume. I hate the looks I get when I try to be creative and have fun with it. I don't like partying anyway, so spending the entire night trying to explain my cloudy with a chance of showers costume isn't my idea of a good time."

Santana nodded. "Okay."

"I won't be upset if you go, though," Rachel said, smiling. "I'll stay here and hand out candy. I think the apartment's trick or treat hours are from seven to nine."

* * *

Rachel yawned as she walked up the stairs. If it weren't for the fact that she'd planned an epic costume, she'd just go to bed right now. She turned the key in the lock and dropped her bags by the coat hooks.

"Hey Rach!"

"Oh, hey Santana!" she said, kicking off her shoes and making her way to the bedroom. "I thought you'd be over at the dorms by now for pre-gaming."

"Nah. I'm staying in tonight." She opened her mouth in an exaggerated yawn to put in her fangs.

"Really? But what about the party?"

"I wan—'uck! Ow! I 'an't 'alk wiv 'ese in!" She popped the fangs back out and glared at them. "Anyway," she said, turning to face Rachel. "I wanted to stay here with you."

"But—"

"And before you go being a silly hobbit, no, I'm not just doing this so you won't be alone. Those parties are kind of juvenile, and it's just an excuse to get drunk. But I figured we could chill here, hand out some candy, and then do our own thing later," she said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Hopefully you're not too opposed to the slutty kitten costume. To be fair, you'll only be wearing the ears for most of it…."

Rachel laughed and hugged her. "Sounds like a plan. Okay, Santana Cullen…go get the candy ready while I change."

Santana stuck her tongue out at her, but complied.

Rachel pulled a few things from the closet & various drawers. She was proud of herself for this one. She didn't even need makeup for it, which was a plus.

A few minutes later, she bounced out into the hall to find Santana eating a Snickers. "Those are for the kids!" she admonished.

"They'll get some," Santana said. "Er…what are you?"

"Think about it."

Rachel had a triangular piece of cardboard taped to her front (with a hole cut out for her face) and some sort of handle on her back. And she was wearing a chef's hat.

"Iron chef," Santana groaned.

Rachel beamed and nodded as the doorbell rang.

_**LbN: Thanks to everyone who's been reading/reviewing/favoriting/following! A new poll's up on my profile, if you want to go vote! **_


	12. Making Out

**The Beat Goes On**

Santana absolutely refused to cry. This was why she hated Christmas breaks…trying to tow the line between the family that still loved her and the family that hated her very existence was always hard. When her parents were hosting Christmas at their house? Ten times harder. She closed the door quietly and shuffled around her room for a few minutes. She was not going to cry, so she had to direct the restless energy somewhere. Her phone buzzed and she smiled for the first time that night.

"Hey, you," she answered.

"Hi Santana!" Rachel chirped. "How are things going?"

"The usual. My Abuela trying to set me up with some guy from her church, Aunt Carla going all PFLAG on her…. Tio Rufio trying to distract me from the insanity while Uncle Santos preaches about how I'm going to hell. And the ever wonderful feeling of great-Aunt Sophia trying to keep all my younger cousins away from me, because she thinks gay equals pedophile. How about you?"

There was silence on the other end for a moment, then Rachel said, "Come over."

"Rae—"

"No, I'm serious. Your parents will understand. And my dads miss you anyway. I don't want you wallowing in misery this entire break. Pack a bag—I'll be there in fifteen."

Santana's smile widened. "If you insist."

* * *

"How did the glee reunion go?" Santana asked.

They were lying in Rachel's bed watching The Santa Claus after the most awkward exit ever at Santana's house. Rachel's dads had gone to a Christmas party.

"It was fine," Rachel said. "I wish you could've gone."

"I know, me too. But as much as they hate me, it would have been like, the height of dishonor not to be there the entire day when the relatives arrived," Santana said, rolling her eyes. "So, just fine? No new gossip or drama?" she asked, nudging Rachel. Her smile faltered when Rachel shrugged. "Okay, who do I have to kill?"

The younger woman smirked and rested her head on her shoulder. "No one. It's just weird now. And…."

"And?"

"Nothing."

"What is it?"

Rachel sighed and sat up. "Am I a good kisser?"

Santana raised an eyebrow and sat up as well. "Uh, yeah! Why is that even a question?"

"Nothing wrong with checking to make sure you're still satisfied."

"Sure, but normally you do that by saying 'Hey, Santana, let's go to the porn store for toys.' Or 'Santana, how would you feel about being tied up?' Or 'Santana, let's fuck.' It's not normally a question so much as suggestions you already know are good ones. What went on at this party, exactly?" she asked, pulling Rachel into her lap.

"Mike asked me how the show prep was going, and I may have started to ramble a bit. Then Finn said something like 'Same old Rachel.' And then Mercedes may have insinuated that I'm still the same Rachel from high school. I believe she phrased it as 'obnoxious and prude.' And—why are you laughing?"

Santana had tears in her eyes. The absurdity of calling her Rachel a prude was so great that she was pretty sure time had stopped for a second, just so the universe could do a double take. "Seriously? She's an idiot."

"Well, the conversation had spun well out of my control by then, despite Kurt's best efforts. He's walked in on us making out so many times that he knows better, and he told them as much. But somehow it wound back around to me being a prude and how I'm probably not even a great kisser, and how I should throw sex at you more so you don't leave me. Brittany finally got it to stop after that—she looked horrified at the entire conversation."

"She should be…damn, some people just never grow up. And to answer your earlier question, you are a phenomenal kisser."

Rachel smiled at her. They were quiet for a moment, watching the goofy Christmas movie. After a few minutes, Rachel looked back at Santana. "Maybe I should practice, though. Just in case…."

Santana grinned and leaned in to kiss her girlfriend.


	13. Eating Ice Cream

**The Beat Goes On**

Rachel huffed as Santana put a blindfold on her. "Is this really necessary?"

"Yes," Santana said patiently. "You're awful with surprises and have a great sense of direction. You'd figure it out."

"Fine," she whined. "See if I ever let you plan a date again."

Santana laughed and took Rachel's arm.

Walking out of their apartment without being able to see was disconcerting at the least. She tried peeking a few times, but Santana swatted her hands away from the blindfold.

"Stop that," she whispered in her ear. "I won't let you fall or bump into anything. Trust me."

Rachel smiled and allowed Santana to guide her to…wherever they were going.

"Getting in the taxi now," Santana said. "Watch your head."

In the cool, air conditioned car, Rachel started to relax. "People are going to think you're trying to kidnap me," she quipped.

"That ain't what this is, is it lady?" the cab driver asked.

"Hells no, buddy. If I wanted to kidnap her, I know a homeboy with a private jet."

"Sweet Barbara…" Rachel muttered. "You're really not going to tell me where we're going?"

"After all the work I went through to get you to put that blindfold on? Hells no."

Rachel rested her head on Santana's shoulder as they rode through the city. It was a longer drive than she had expected, but finally she felt a tug at the scarf and her blindfold fell away.

"Ta da!" Santana said.

Rachel blinked in the sudden light and looked out of the window as Santana paid the driver. They were in Rockefeller Plaza. "What's going on?"

"Come on," Santana said, taking her hand as they got out of the car. She led them to the Ben & Jerry's store, where a crowd was forming.

"Uh, Santana?"

"Trust me," she said, leading them to the front of the line.

Rachel just nodded, wondering where this was going.

Santana handed the man at the door two tickets and he held it open for them. "They're having a taste test party, and I scored us tickets. It's for their newest line of dairy free, vegan ice cream."

Rachel's face lit up as they were led to a table. "Seriously?"

"Yep. Let's gets our ice cream on!"


	14. Genderswapped

**The Beat Goes On**

Rachel walked into the apartment and dropped her keys and bag on the table. As happy as she was that it was spring again, she was a little sad (and more than a little nervous) that she'd be graduating in two months. She sighed and headed into the kitchen for a snack. She jumped about a mile when she saw a man in there drinking milk out of the carton.

"ACK!" she yelled, dropping into self defense mode. She'd only been to three Ju Jitsu classes so far, but the guy was small enough that she could probably take him down. Or buy time until Santana got there.

The man had spilt milk on the floor in surprise. "Good to know those martial arts lessons I'm paying for are sticking with you, I guess."

Rachel straightened up and looked at him. Really looked at him. Her. "Santana?" she yelped.

"Come on, Rae. Tell me you didn't forget it was Drag Day!" she said with a smirk.

Rachel put a hand over her heart and took a deep breath. "Have you done this before? Because you totally had me convinced."

"Obviously. One hand was about to karate chop me and the other was going to punch me. We need to work on your form, Tiny."

"Shut up. I've only been to three classes." Rachel took a moment to look Santana over.

The older woman had on baggy jeans, and you could just see the band of her boxers underneath. She was also wearing a super tight tank top and a plaid shirt unbuttoned.

Rachel pouted. "No."

Santana quirked an eyebrow at her, smirk never leaving her face. "No, what?"

"I want your boobs back!"

Milk came out of Santana's nose and she doubled over laughing. "Oh my god, Rae. Okay, look, after the drag show, you can totally have the twins back."

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to grab some hummus and carrot sticks, and recouperate from my heart attack by watching Game of Thrones."

"First, can we talk about the fact that you're eating hummus while watching one of the more gory shows on television? Second, you're a drama queen."

"I'm your drama queen," Rachel said, kissing Santana's cheek. "And stop drinking milk from the carton!"


	15. Different Style of Clothing

**The Beat Goes On**

Santana crept into the apartment, hoping that the cat suit she was wearing didn't squeak too badly. She knew Rachel had had a long day and didn't want to wake her up.

_Click!_

Too late.

"Hey baby," Santana said, smiling over at where Rachel sat on the couch. "You're up late." Her smile turned to a frown as she moved closer and saw a bunch of her costumes on the couch as well. "Er…Rach?"

"I was just waiting up for you, trying to come up with a good explanation for the _wealth _of role play costumes that most definitely haven't been used in our bedroom yet," Rachel said, folding her arms. "I see I've got one more to add to the list."

Santana looked down and then up at Rachel and to her costumes and back to her girlfriend. "Wait…oh…no, look. It's not what you think?"

"How do you know what I'm thinking?"

"Rachel…."

"No, I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation as to why you tell me you're heading off to work at a restaurant, and come back looking like Catwoman. Or…" She rifled through the costumes. "Selene from Underworld, Princess Anna from Van Helsing, Hermione from Harry Potter…there certainly is a variety."

"I am going to work, Rach," Santana insisted, kicking off her shoes. "I work at The Magic Time Machine. It's a chain restaurant—started down in Texas, but they have locations in Vegas, LA, and now here. It's a pretty cool place. And all of the workers dress up like characters from different fairy tales or movies. I was going to take you this weekend on my day off."

Rachel's face relaxed from its frustrated frown. "Oh…why didn't you tell me you were working there?"

"At first I thought it was really goofy. Then my schedule got fucked, and I just didn't ever want to wake you up."

"Oh. I'm sorry," Rachel said, hugging her.

"Did you really think I was cheating on you?" Santana asked incredulously as she hugged her back.

"Yes and no," Rachel said with a sigh. "It's just…and please don't take this the wrong way. I was concerned for your safety as much as our relationship…. You've been really stressed about money lately, and I was sort of scared you'd found an old, creepy cougar who had a thing for costume play…."

Santana burst out laughing. "Oh my god… let's just go to bed." She took Rachel's hand, pulling her off the couch, and they walked towards their bedroom. "Your imagination scares me sometimes," Santana said, kissing her.


	16. Morning Rituals

**The Beat Goes On**

The tension was so thick it was nearly suffocating. Rachel glanced down at the ring on her finger and smiled. This was supposed to be a good night, damn it! They were celebrating…. Santana's new job, Rachel's role in Chicago, their engagement. But it was that last one that was giving them trouble. They'd expected their parents to be thrilled about the news, but the reactions had been less than enthusiastic. Now, the silence had stretched on so long and gone so far into the depths of awkward, that Rachel was strangely comfortable with it.

It was Maribel who spoke again first. "It's not that we're not happy for you both," she insisted. "It's just…sudden."

"We've been dating for three years," Santana said, confused.

"I think she means it's a lot on your plate at once," Hiram said. "With your new jobs and everything. Now you're planning a wedding on top of that?"

"We're not planning on getting married this year," Rachel said. "We're waiting until next year to even start the planning, and we plan to have the wedding in November once my run is over. Plenty of time for us to adjust to our jobs."

The parents exchanged a glance.

"Are you sure you two are ready for this?" Cris asked. "Marriage is work. You two have been playing house, but it'll be different."

"We haven't been playing anything, Papi," Santana said. "We've been living together. We know each other's routines and pet peeves and how to work with each other. Yes, it'll be different. But we're going to make it work."

Rachel smiled and nodded.

"Well," Leroy said with a smile, "Congratulations. Don't let your dad pick the flowers."

Rachel laughed, breaking the tension slightly.

* * *

"What?"

"No, seriously. It was terrifying."

"Don't be dramatic, Hiram."

"Leroy, it was like watching robot zombies."

"What happened?" Cris asked, sipping his coffee.

"They're like…perfectly synced in the morning," Hiram said. "When I walked into the kitchen, they were making breakfast. Santana passed Rachel a wooden spoon without Santana even saying anything. She didn't even look at her! And Rachel was passing Santana the dirty dishes to watch without looking too. It was like they do this every day."

"They do, babe," Leroy said. "When they got done cooking, Santana grabbed the news paper and split up the sections for her and Rachel. And they picked food off each other's plates without looking or saying a word."

"It takes about an hour and a half for the coffee to kick in for Santana," Maribel said, laughing. "They're probably used to waiting until they're fully awake to talk."

"I think they'll be okay," Cris said, smiling.

The others agreed.


	17. Spooning

**The Beat Goes On**

"Apple."

"Pie."

"Math."

"Hatred."

"Schue's vests."

Santana laughed as Rachel swatted her. Rain was pounding against the windows. The power had flickered twice, and finally gone out about an hour ago. They were spooning on the couch under Rachel's penguin blanket, playing random word games and listening to jazz.

"Glee."

"Journey."

"Vacation."

"Italy."

"Honeymoon."

Santana pulled her closer and smiled into her shoulder. "Nice try babe. Sex."

"Porn."

"Midgets."

"SANTANA!"

"Don't bring it to the counter if you don't want to buy it," she said, grinning. "And I believe that's a point for me."

"You broke the chain after honeymoon."

"Fine. Point for you too. Fox."

"Wolf."

"Moon Moon."

"What?"

"Point for me!"

"Is that more Tumblr nonsense?"

"Tumblr awesomeness, you mean. And yes. Catapult."

"Heads."

"…tails?"

"Sonic."

"Burgers."

Santana's phone rang, making both of them jump. "I don't want to get up!"

"It might be important," Rachel said, contorting so she could reach the phone. "It's your mom."

"Hey Mami! You're on speaker."

"_Hi girls! I was calling to let you know that Aaron's coming home tomorrow!"_

Santana shot up on the couch, smiling brightly. "No way!" Her brother had been deployed to Afghanistan for a year, and she'd missed him like crazy.

"_Yep! Also, Nico's graduating early! He's been accepted to NYU."_

"We're converting all of Lima," Rachel said, laughing.

"Tell him he can come over for Sunday lunch when he comes to New York," Santana said.

"_Oh, he's already got it into his head that he's staying with you if his roommate is _loco_."_

"No, he's not!" Santana yelped. She loved her cousin, but she wanted to be able to walk around naked whenever she wanted. Moreover, she wanted Rachel to be able to walk around naked whenever she wanted too….

Her mom laughed. _"You can have that conversation with him at the family reunion."_

Santana groaned. "Right. We'll be there. Can't wait to see you!"

"_Bye, girls!"_

Santana settled back down on the couch and pulled Rachel close. "Come here, little spoon."

"One day, I'm going to be the big spoon…" Rachel grumbled.

"Keep dreaming. Unicorn."

"Brittany."

"Dance."

"Queen."

"Mercury."

"Planets."

"Pluto."

The rain poured on outside. 


	18. Doing Something Together

**The Beat Goes On**

"Santana?"

"What's up, Rach?"

"Let's take a class together." She smiled brightly as Santana looked up at her and quirked an eyebrow.

"Any class in particular?"

* * *

"And three deep breaths in Mountain pose."

"This is ridiculous," Santana said out of the corner of her mouth as the class went into Downward Dog pose.

"Shhh!" Rachel said. "It's relaxing. And it increases flexibility."

"I know something that could take care of both of those things," Santana said, wiggling her eyebrows at Rachel.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Hush!"

"And down into Dolphin," the instructor called.

"I'm just saying…."

"Shhh! You can pick the next class."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Promise?"

"YES, Santana. Now hush!"

* * *

"Really?"

"Don't judge me. You said I got to pick!"

"A gun class?"

"Don't worry. It's totally legit."

"That's what I'm afraid of."

"First time with a gun?" the burly instructor asked.

"Not for me, but yes for her," Santana said.

"That's fine. Newbies to the front, as always."

Santana gave Rachel and encouraging grin as she was ushered to the front of the line.

"I'm picking the next class," Rachel said.

* * *

"What the actual hell?"

"Santana, language."

"Sorry, but mine doesn't look like the picture," she whined.

"Paper crafts take a while to get the hang of," the old church lady running Stamp Camp assured her. "You'll get it down in no time."

Santana scowled at the long rectangle of paper. It had scoring and cuts down the sides, but it wasn't folding together the way it was supposed to. She'd picked the hand sanitizer holder because it had looked easier than everything else. Not so much. She looked over at Rachel and huffed. Her girlfriend had made two hand sanitizer holders, three greeting cards, a sliding gift box, and a popcorn bag cover.

"It's my turn next."

* * *

"I like it," Rachel said, smiling at Santana. "Flower vase?"

"Pimp goblet," Santana said with a smirk.

"So is pottery our new thing?" she asked, painting a gold star on her spoon holder.

"Ah yeah," Santana said. She wrote "Snixx" on the base of her goblet and took it over to the kiln.


	19. Formal Wear

**The Beat Goes On**

"Hey Rach," Santana called, dropping her work bag by the door. She kicked her shoes off and went into the bedroom, finding her girlfriend reading in bed. "How did rehearsal go?"

"Good. The director's really happy with how everything's progressed. I can't believe we're opening in two weeks."

"You still have Friday night off, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"We have a gala for work. Something to do with the big wigs who throw money at us. It's a formal event, and I was hoping you could go with me."

Rachel smiled and nodded. "Of course. Question?"

"What's up?"

"Do you want arm candy Rachel or normal Rachel?"

"Well…I don't really know the difference…" Santana said, hanging her shirt up. She pulled on some sweats and a sports bra and hopped in bed with Rachel. "Whatever you want." She kissed her, but was slightly worried about the smile on her girlfriend's face. "What?"

"I'm going with arm candy Rachel. You've got the future Goddess of Broadway with you. Let's make a splash."

Santana laughed. "Okay. I'm going to go order pizza."

* * *

Holy. Damn.

Santana's mouth dropped open. She always thought Rachel was stunning, but Arm Candy Rachel? She was pretty sure she was drooling.

Rachel beamed at her. Her makeup was dark and smoky, and her hair was teased into the "Hollywood sex" hair look. She was wearing a shimmery bottle green dressed that clung to her curves perfectly. It only had one strap, so there was some skin showing, but nothing too suggestive.

Santana wanted to skip the party.

"Are you ready?" Rachel asked. "Santana, close your mouth. You've seen me dressed up before."

"Uh…uh…yeah. Let's go."

Santana had rented a car and a driver for the occasion, which she was immensely grateful for. As soon as they got into the car and pulled off, she pounced on Rachel.

"San! No," Rachel said, laughing as her girlfriend pouted. "I want everyone to be jealous of you, but not because you got car sex."

"We could add car sex to the jealousy," Santana said hopefully.

"Stop that," Rachel said, grinning.

"Fine," Santana groaned. "But we're totally dancing like we know how when we get there."

"So long as it's nothing that gets you fired."


	20. Dancing

**The Beat Goes On**

Rachel felt like Cinderella. She'd known what she was in for when she'd chosen the look. People couldn't take their eyes off her—especially Santana. She smiled as she followed her girlfriend…fiancé, actually… out to the dance floor. They had made a splash, all right, but Santana was still the most attentive person Rachel could ever hope to be paired with. Snix had almost come out a few times when the ogling had gotten intense, but the night was going smoothly.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Santana asked as they swayed to the music.

"About what an awesome future wife I have," she answered, smiling.

"Really? You don't feel kind of…iffy about the whole 'trophy wife' thing? I distinctly remember you and Q getting drunk and ranting about that one time," Santana added with a smirk.

Rachel laughed and pulled her closer. "Sure…but…. I know how hard for you it is sometimes, being the youngest here. And a girl. And gay. This is very much a boys' club, and though I abhor kneeling to societal pressures and gender norms usually… I guess I wanted you to have one night where you could say 'In yo face, bitches!' Metaphorically speaking, of course."

Santana giggled into her shoulder and nodded. "You're awesome, you know that?"

"My parents made sure to tell me twice a day, so I never forgot," Rachel said, twirling under Santana's arm.

"Santana!" a man's voice said jovially as the music stopped. He was built along the lines of Karofsky, but with much less hair. His ruddy tomato shaped face told both girls that he'd been enjoying the free champagne immensely that night.

"Hi Mr. Deirs," Santana said, nodding. "Rachel, this is my boss, Aaron Deirs."

"Pleased to meet you," she said, shaking his hand.

"And you! This is my wife, Claudia."

With one look, Rachel was transported back to high school. This woman was probably a piece of work. "Hi, nice to meet you."

Claudia gave a little, "Hmmm…" accompanied by a smirk. "You're very pretty. How long have you and Santana been together?"

"Since college," Rachel said, taking Santana's hand. "But we've known each other since high school."

"Hmmm…."

"Why don't we let our women talk for a moment?" Diers said to Santana. "Carmine and Gabe are in from Tokyo—we can talk a little business."

"You okay here?" Santana asked, looking apologetic.

"Fine," Rachel assured her. She kissed her cheek and watched as she walked off to the bar.

"So," Claudia said. "What do you do, Rachel?"

"I'm an actress," Rachel answered. Ah…there it was. The "I'm so far above you, it's comical" look.

"Oh…well, I'm sure that'll work out for you someday. But what do you do now? While you're waiting."

"No, I really am an actress," Rachel corrected her. "We're opening Chicago in a few days."

Claudia's eyebrows shot up. "Oh! And how is that going? Are you in company?"

"I'm playing Roxie," Rachel deadpanned. She knew this game—this dance. It was all about timing. She wasn't going to let this woman get any sort of high ground on her.

"Oh. That's lovely," Claudia said, with about as much enthusiasm as a classical violinist at a grunge concert. "Santana's very popular around here."

"That's my girlfriend. She's always been popular."

"Mmm…yes. I expect you're used to watching ladies throw themselves at her."

"Definitely." Rachel fixed her with a cold stare.

Claudia smirked. "Enjoy your night."

Rachel walked away without another word. She found Santana looking bored by the bar. Her boss was apparently telling jokes to the two men from out of town. "Hey, sorry…I don't mean to interrupt."

"No, it's fine," Santana said, sounding relieved. "You ready to get out of here?" she asked in an undertone. "I don't know how many more racist jokes I can take before Snixx comes out to play."

"Let's go."


	21. Baking

**The Beat Goes On**

Santana rolled up her sleeves and glared at all of the ingredients on the counter. She was determined to do this right, but it was so. Much. Work. With a steadying breath, she scrolled up on her iPad and glanced at the first step of the recipe. Tomorrow was Rachel's big night. Santana already had dinner prepared, but she wanted to make something special for dessert. She'd emailed Leroy a few days back asking for Rachel's favorite cookie recipe, and he'd sent her the instructions for a few different cookies, including Chocolate Cherry Bombs. They looked good in the picture, and the recipe didn't look too hard to follow. For someone who was such a good cook, Santana was crap at baking for some reason. So the easiest recipe was usually the one she went with. Okay…she could do this….

Step one: Preheat oven to 325. Mix together water and Eggless Binding Powder. So far so good.

Step two: In a large mixing bowl, mix together the sugar, margarine, brown rice syrup, vanilla extract, salt and almond extract. Mix in Eggless Binding Powder mixture. Stir in cherries and chocolate chips.

With every step, Santana breathed a little easier. This wouldn't be so bad. A little patience, some creativity, and she'd have some badass cookies to give her fiancé when she got home.

* * *

Rachel walked in to a surprising mixture of smells. On the one hand, whatever Santana had made for dinner smelled fantastic. On the other, there was a slight lingering smell of burnt chocolate in the air that gave her pause. "San?"

"In here!"

She walked past a perfectly, romantically set table and into the kitchen to find it utterly wrecked. Her mouth dropped open. She glanced at Santana, who was holding out a plate of six cookies and looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

"I did it!"

"I see. What happened?"

"I was fine until the step about combining the wet and dry ingredients," her fiancé whined. "And then I had the rack set too high, so most of them burned. But I managed to salvage these! Chocolate Cherry Bombs…your favorite, right?"

Rachel looked at Santana's slightly anxious face and nodded. "My absolute favorite," she agreed. "Let's eat dinner first, though."


	22. In Battle, Side by Side

**The Beat Goes On**

Rachel had been surprised. High school, and even college, theater people had been spectacularly single-minded. You had to be. It was a never ending struggle to the top, and anything that took your mind away from that struggle was a distraction. Anything you allowed yourself to enjoy that didn't directly benefit your craft was frivolous. Which was why she'd been so surprised when their director suggested paintball as a form of team bonding.

"Avengers assemble!" she yelled to her teammates as yellow and orange pellets flew through the air.

Seven people with blue bandanas converged on her and ducked down behind the metal shed.

"Call it, captain," Logan said, lifting his goggles to wipe sweat from his face.

"Okay, Basil, Gendry, and Logan—you guys draw them out to the steps by the hay bales. Coutney and Max, cover us from above. Santana, Brad and I will keep the fighting on the ground. Got it?"

"Right!" they all said, and dispersed.

"Have I ever told you how hot it is when you take charge?" Santana asked.

Rachel grinned at her. "Tell me later. We need to take the flag before they mow down our guard. Cover my flank!"

With that, she rushed over to the next bunker, rolling to dodge the hail of paintball pellets.


	23. Arguing and Making Up

**The Beat Goes On**

Santana strolled into the apartment carrying grocery bags. She bent and gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek as she passed the couch.

"Hey baby!" Rachel chirped, checking something off of a list.

"Hey. What are you up to?" Santana asked, beginning to put the groceries away.

Rachel walked over and hugged her. "Just starting up a preliminary guest list for our wedding."

"Should I be worried?" Santana asked with a smirk.

"Not at all. I won't descend into madness until at least five months out."

Santana laughed. "Okay, so who's made the cut?"

"I haven't started list people, just categories. Glee, family, and work so far."

"Just as long as you don't inflict Johanna upon me," Santana said. Then she looked up when Rachel was silent. "No. Not her. For god's sake—"

"I know you don't like her, but we were really good friends."

Santana sighed. Johanna was Rachel's first girlfriend, a cellist for the NYU orchestra. She was adorable and perfect, and Santana hated her. The two had dated during Rachel's first semester at NYADA, for the brief period when she and Finn had been testing the "open relationship" waters. But they'd split soon after Christmas, and then Santana had turned up. But she'd always felt her skin crawl when the other girl came around or called. "Does she really need to be there?"

"She's just a friend," Rachel said.

"As you've told me before. I still don't want her at the wedding. Just like you probably don't want Natasha there." She smirked when Rachel growled.

"Low blow, but touché." Rachel snuggled against her back and kissed her shoulder. "I don't want to argue tonight. What did you do today?"

"Narrowed down some apartment choices."

"Really?" Rachel said excitedly.

"Yeah. I've got the brochures in my bag." She turned the oven on and went over to the couch. Pulling the pamphlets out, she passed them to Rachel.

Rachel's excited face slowly slipped into a frown. "All of these are kind of…small, don't you think?"

"It's just the two of us," Santana said, shrugging.

"Sure, but…we're both working now. We can afford something bigger."

"We don't have spend money just to spend it," Santana grumbled.

"Of course not. But we're not talking about you buying every season of Dexter, or me picking up seven different cupcake making sets. This is our first home…. Our first real home. We can afford to be comfortable."

"Not on my salary."

"You do realize that I'm making money too, now?" Rachel asked with a gentle smile.

"Don't rub it in."

"I'm not rubbing anything in. There's not all that much to rub in, by the way. It's not like I'm a millionaire or anything. You're being stubborn—again."

"I'm not being stubborn, I'm being frugal. We don't have our parents looking after us anymore. We can't just spend money like we used to."

"I know. But again…this is a big thing. An important thing."

"I know that! That's why it bothers me so much that I can't handle it."

"Santana, you're—"

"Being ridiculous."

"A little, yeah," Rachel huffed.

"Yeah…."

There was silence for a minute.

"San," Rachel said, trying to approach the sore subject as gently as possible. "You don't have to pay for everything. We're about to become one person, or however people describe marriage. You take care of me in every way, every day. Please let me take care of you every once in a while. Give and take."

Santana sighed. She silently pulled Rachel closer and pressed her lips against the shorter girl's head. "We can…look at some other options I guess."

Rachel smiled and kissed her. "I have the day off tomorrow. We can Google the day away."

Finally, Santana's smile returned. "Giggity."


	24. Gazing Into Each Others' Eyes

**The Beat Goes On**

"One last night of peace before the mayhem," Santana said, smiling.

They were facing each other on the bed, not talking too much, just looking into each other's eyes and listening to the rain fall. Santana liked these moments—slices of time when she got to just rest with Rachel. They never really relaxed…it was part of their personalities, and part of their history. The tension had never really left—first the tension of trying to get it right and not kill each other, then Santana's hang up about spending the rest of her life making up for high school. Rachel had said, on more than one occasion, that it was no longer necessary, but Santana didn't care. It had been her mission to make Rachel feel like a princess since the moment they'd started dating, and she'd never let that go. Still, moments like this were peaceful.

"I can't believe they're splitting us up," Rachel said, pouting.

Santana grinned. "Can't you? Come on—my super Catholic mother, your Jewish dad and your other dad who still feels the need to protect your virtue."

"What little of it I have left…. Seriously though, two whole months sleeping apart? I'm not going to be able to sleep without you."

"You will." Santana sat up and walked over to the closet. "I found these in storage."

"Our girlfriend pillows!" Rachel exclaimed, laughing. "Oh, that's great!"

"We're going to be okay," Santana said, cuddling up to Rachel. "Skype every night, and we will most definitely be seeing each other every day for lunch. Also, I've enlisted Quinn's help for if we ever get completely cray and need some time away from the 'rents."

"Should I even ask?"

"No. What time are we going to pick your dads up tomorrow?"

"Their plane lands at ten. Let's get some sleep."


	25. Getting Married

**The Beat Goes On**

Rachel's eyes fluttered open as a gentle hand smoothed her hair back.

"Rise and shine, Berry!" Quinn said. "It's the big day."

Rachel smiled a little and buried her face in the pillow. She wasn't quite awake yet, and she couldn't believe that after months of planning and drama and glorious secret rendezvous, she would finally, FINALLY, be marrying Santana.

"Hey, none of that," Quinn said, shaking her shoulder gently. "Come on. I went through all this trouble of ordering you a delicious vegan breakfast. You have to eat."

Rachel sat up and smiled at her best friend. "Thanks, Quinn."

"Don't mention it," the blonde said, passing her the tray of apple crepes and orange juice.

* * *

"Santana Diabla, did you sleep at all last night?" Brittany asked, exasperated.

"A little bit," Santana told her. "Really! I slept from four until now."

"Five hours of sleep? You're going to be dead at the reception…. Oh well, have your breakfast."

"I can't Britts. I'm too nervous."

"About what? You love being the center of attention and your dress is slammin'. You have nothing to worry about!"

"What if I can't do this?" she asked quietly, finally voicing a fear that had been nagging at her thoughts for months. "What if I screw everything up?"

Brittany's expression changed then. She smiled softly at her and sat cross-legged on the bed in front of her. "Remember eighth grade?"

"Um…yeah. Why?"

"That was the year they tested me. They wanted to put me in special ed, and not the 'Oh, she's really really gifted' kind. The 'You're going to a different school entirely because you're just that stupid' kind. But you threw an almighty shit fit with our parents and wouldn't let them send me. And you never let them. You helped me with my regular work, and made sure I could stay on the Cheerios with you. And you helped me get through life stuff that I didn't understand. And when I got into MIT, all you said was 'I knew it.' Well, this time it's my turn. I know it—I know that you're going to be fine. I know that you and Rach are going to have an awesome marriage, and eight adorable, badass kids—"

"EIGHT?"

"I know because Rachel is to you what you are to me. Not in this way," she said, tapping her head, "but in this way." She tapped her heart twice. "She helps you through life stuff that you don't understand or can't handle by yourself. Everyone needs someone like that; some of us just feel it or know it more than others. And you both found your person to be that for you. You won't mess it up, because she needs you as much as you need her. You'll be fine together. Great, in fact. I know what I'm talking about."

Santana smiled. "You're a genius, Britts."

"And now I've got two Phd.'s to prove it. Eat your omelet. It's real eggs and cheese, but I won't tell."

* * *

Quinn, Puck, Blaine and Brittany stood on one side; Kurt, Mercedes, Tina and Sam on the other. Cristobal Lopez walked Santana down the aisle first, then Leroy and Hiram walked Rachel down. Five minutes into the Father Carrico's speech, every parent in the building was weeping steadily. By the time Rabbi Zeichik got to his part of the ceremony, the entire wedding party (to include the brides) were crying as well.

_With this ring_

_I thee wed…._

"What god has joined together," Carrico said.

"Let no man tear asunder," Zeichik finished.

"You may kiss your bride."


	26. Birthday

**The Beat Goes On**

Rachel shuffled downstairs in a sleepy haze. She'd gotten in late (or technically, early) and felt like she needed another three hours or so before she was fully functional. She smiled, entering the kitchen and spotting her wife at the stove. "Morning, San."

"Hey there, sleepyhead," Santana said, flipping a pancake onto one of the plates. "I was going to bring this up to you."

"You don't have to do that."

"It's your birthday. I'm spoiling you. Deal." Santana handed her a plate and gave her a kiss good morning.

"Okay then," Rachel said, laughing. "No complaints from me."

"That's what I thought. Now, eat up. We have a big day ahead of us."

"What are we doing?" Rachel asked, digging into her pancakes and fruit.

"After this we've got an…appointment of sorts. It's a surprise."

"Santana!" Rachel whined. "I'm awful with surprises—you know that!"

"I know. But you don't have long to wait," she said, smirking.

* * *

"FAO Schwarz?"

"Mmmhmmm," Santana said, steering her inside. "Closed down for two hours for us to go crazy. You said the other day that you wanted to relive your childhood—I figured this was better than a trip to Chuck E. Cheese."

"This is adorable!" Rachel squeaked, eyes lighting up.

"Yep! And you're getting the behind the scenes tour—all the cool stuff. Let's get to it!"

"Mrs. and Mrs. Lopez!" the manager said jovially. "Ready to get started?"

"Absolutely!" Rachel said.

"Here are your wish lists," he said, handing them both sheet of paper numbered one through ten.

"Wish lists?"

"Yeah," Santana explained casually. "Whenever celebs shut the place down, they get to pick what they think's the coolest stuff, then the company donates those things to sick kids."

"That's brilliant," Rachel said, beaming.

For the next hour and a half, the pair of them wandered around with Eric the Manager telling them the ins and outs of the toy store. He kept them in hysterics for a good portion of the tour—he was goofier than Quinn on Vicodin.

"All right ladies," he said, coming to a halt in front of the teddy bears. "That's it for the tour. You still have thirty minutes to wander around and finish up your lists. I'll be at the register when you're done."

"Thank you so much, Eric," Rachel gushed, shaking his hand. "This was so much fun!"

"Glad to hear it!"

"So," Santana said, once Eric had wandered off. "Got your list nearly finished?"

"Yeah. Oooh! Look at this guy!" She ran over to a stuffed lion that was damn near the same size as her. "I'll put 'giant lion' on the list, but we're taking this one home with us."

Santana laughed. Her wife was a big baby at heart. She'd go along with it. It fit into the next surprise perfectly…. "Sure thing, birthday girl. What have you named it? I know you named it as soon as you saw it."

"Oswald Jeffrey Lannister the Fourth," Rachel said, hoisting it onto her shoulders.

"You and Britt are officially banned from watching TV together."

* * *

Lion and candy from the FAO Schweetz shop in tow, they made it home just after noon. Rachel deposited the lion on the couch and hugged Santana.

"That was awesome. Just proves you know me better than anyone…most people would've taken me to a Broadway show and called it a day," she said with a wink.

"I aim to please. But hey, I've got one last present. I wanted to wait until after lunch, but I can't."

"What is it?" Rachel asked, curling up on the couch with her.

Santana passed her an envelope. "From the adoption agency."

Rachel's eyes lit up. She looked from the envelope, to Santana, and back again. Suddenly, things clicked into place. Santana spending a lot more time in the five-seven year olds' section. Her asking for details on the different art classes that were offered for kids on the weekend. How she "forgot" to turn in her wish list at the counter. "No…when?"

"The letter just came today, but they called two days ago," Santana said, grinning. "I debated telling you, but I wanted to wait until the letter came to make it officially official."

Near hyperventilating, Rachel tore open the envelope. All her eyes took in was the word "approved". She wrapped herself around Santana. "Oh my god!"

"Happy birthday, Rachel."


	27. Doing Something Silly and Cute

**The Beat Goes On**

Santana laughed as she and their youngest son, Caleb watched Rachel and his brother Cassius run through the inflatable obstacle course. They'd been a family, officially, for six weeks now, and she was beginning to love the whole motherhood thing. There had been struggles, of course, as they got used to one another…and there was the ongoing process of building their trust in adults. But in all, things were going well. She and Rachel had made a concerted effort to have Saturdays free, so that they could do things together, which was how they found themselves at the neighborhood block party that day.

Cas came running over a moment later, flushed and grinning. "I won!"

"We saw!" Santana said, grinning back as Rachel caught up. "Why don't we go grab some snacks? Momma looks like she could use a grape snow cone."

Cas took Caleb's hand and led the way.

"Doing okay?" Santana asked, chuckling.

"Laugh it up. You're running the next one with him," Rachel replied, smiling. "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Santana smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I love you too. Let's go get lunch with our boys."

Rachel beamed and nodded, happy to spend the rest of her day with her family.


End file.
